Device for placing electric globes in sockets.



F. A. JOHNSON.

DEVICE FOR PLACING ELECTRIC GLOBBS IN SOCKETS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.14,1914.

1,128,453. Patented Feb.16, 1915.

ra'lxlllll Bank dhnson,

FRANK A. JOHNSON, 0F DANVILLE, ILLINOIS.

DEVICE FOR PLACING ELECTRIC GLOBES IN SOCKETS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 16, 1915.

Application filed. September 14, 1914. Serial No. 861,607.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK A. JOHNSON, citizenof the United States, residing at Danville, in the county of Vermilionand Stateof Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Devices for Placing Electric Globes in Sockets; and I do declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in manipulatingmeans for electric lamp bulbs and the primary object of the invention isto provide means of this character which will enable bulbs to be readilyapplied to the socket when the latter is some distance beyond the reachof the operator.

A further object of the invention resides in providing a yieldinggripping member supported on a staff whereby to apply the bulb to asocket beyond reach and a further object resides in providing means inconnection therewith for rotating this gripping means, whereby a bulb inthe latter may be turned into engagement with the threaded socket.

Still another object resides in providing a device which is simple anddurable in construction, inexpensive to manufacture and one which willbe very efficient and useful in operation.

With these and other objectsin view my invention consists in the novelfeatures of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, as willbe hereinafter referred to and more particularly pointed out in thespecification and claims. I

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification:Figure 1 is a front elevation of a device constructed in accordance withmy invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof and Fig. 3 is ahorizontal section as seen on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In describing my invention 1 shall refer to the drawing in which similarreference characters designate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views and in which- 1 designates a bolt or shaft of anypreferred size and length, to the upper end of which is pivotallyapplied the outer ends arms 12.

of a yoke member 2. This yoke member has its arms arcuately designed asclearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing and a pintle 0r bolt 3 whichpivotally supports said arms on the shaft 1 is engaged at its outer endwith a wing nut 1, which enablessaid yoke to be secured in any adjustedposition on the shaft. The base portion of this yoke member 2 which, asshown in the drawing, is a short distance beyond the upper end of shaft1 has a collar or the like 5, formed thereon which forms a bearing for astub shaft 6 projecting'therethrough. This stub shaft carries at itslower end a pinion 7 which is designed to mesh with the additionalpinion 8 carried on a shaft 9 which projects horizontally through thearms of this yoke member. The upper end of the stub shaft 6 projects ashort distance above the collar on bearing 5 and has secured thereto,through the medium of a pintle or bolt 10, an additional collar 11.Formed on this collar at diametrically opposite points thereon areupwardly and outwardly bent These arms are formed of spring metal andthe lower portions thereof which project outwardly are flat as indicatedat 13 while the portions continuing from the latter are somewhatarcuately designed. The upper ends of these arms 12 are provided withregistering openings 1 1 and ad ustably secured to these portions of thearms 12 are the overlapping portions of a pair of arcuate arms 15. Thesearcuate arms are also provided at the ends thereof with regis teringopenings which enable said last men tioned arms to be adjustably securedtogether and also adjustably secured to the upper ends of said arms 12,the securing means being through the medium of screws 16 and wing nuts17. When these arms 15 are properly secured together and to the arms 12a ring like member is formed the sections of which are pivotally andadjustably supported between said arms 12.

Formed on the arcuate arms 15 at predetermined points thereon are thedownwardly extending and inwardly bent fingers 18 which are adapted toaid in the gripping of a bulb when the latter is properly inserted inthis device. Applied to the arms 15 intermediate of their ends and thusbetween the arms 12 are the additional arcuate arms 19 which projectabove and below said arms 15. These arcuate arms 19 are also formedof'spring metal and are adjustably engaged with said arms 15 byproviding registering openings therein and a screw and nut connectiontherewith, as clearly shown in the figures of the drawing. Thisconstruction enables these arms 19 to be readily adjusted according tothe size of the bulb which is being applied to the device,

and the upper endsof these arms 19 terminate arcuate T-heads 20. Thelower ends of these arms 19 are bent angularly as shown at 21 for apurpose to be hereinafter and more particularly set forth. The mem-.'

ber which is thus formed by'the application of the arms above described,applied one to the other may be said to be a gripping member for thepurpose of receiving therein an electric light bulb so that the lattermay-be applied to its socket beyond reach. The various arms formlng thlsmember are con structed of light spring metalso that the same may yieldasthe device is drawn from the bulb after the latter has been applied.It will be appreciated in view of the particular design of the variousarms forming this gripping member, that the bulb will be properlygripped at the neck and head portions thereof, and the fact thatthismember is constructed of two sections which are pivotally supportedon the arms 12, permit the bulb to be readily withdrawn therefrom. In.order. to; form a proper ,base for this gripping member to receive theenlarged head-portions of the bulbs therein, a funnel shaped member 22is provided. This funnel shaped member is supported in and secured tothe portions 13 of the arms 12.

In the operation of the device the bulb is first applied in the grippingmember and in view of the construction of the latter said 7 bulb will beproperly held inposition underthe tension of the spring arms. The staffmay then be raised to permit the threaded neck portion of the bulb to bereadily engaged with the socket and I have provided.

means on'the device for rotating this grippingv member so as to permitthe threaded neck to be engaged with said socket. To

this, end a sprocket 23 is provided on one end of the shaft 9 over whichis trained an endless chain24 and adjustably mounted on the shaft 1adjacent its lower end is a collar or clamp member 25 which carries astub shaft on which is mounted an additional sprocket 26. The chain 24is also trained over this sprocket 26 and connected with thisstub shaftlast'mentioned is a crank or handle 27.. The shaft 9 may be readilyrotated by the rotation of the crank or handle 27 and upon such rotationit is obvious from the construction shown? in the drawing, that thegripping'membercontaining the bulb will also be rotated,thus properlyengaging the bulb with the socket; The

lower sprocket 26 is supported on an adj ustable connection in order tocompensate for any adjusta-bility of the yoke member2that may bedesired. After the bulb has been properly engaged with the socket it isthenv necessary to 'drawdownwardly upon the shaft which will cause thesections of the gripping member to swing on their pivots, thus entirelyreleasing the bulb of its engagementv with said gripping member. Thisdisengagement may be readily accomplished in view of the yieldingpossibilities of the arms of the gripping member and the angular lowerends of the arms 19 in suchmovement will contact with the funnel,

shaped member 22 to limit the swinging ac- I tions of the sections.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have provided a simple,inexpensive and efiicient means for carrying out the objects of theinvention and while I particularly described the-elements best adaptedto perform the functions set forth, it is obvious that various changesin form, proportion and in the minor details of construction mayberesorted to, within" the scope of the appendwith an upstanding collararound the ed e on its upper end, a horizontally disposed rotatableshaft with a bevel gear near one end,

thereof mounted through. the arms of said yoke, and a sprocket on theother end of the 1 horizontally disposed shaft'and outsideof the yoke, avertical stub shaft 'rotatably mounted through the circular opening in Vthe end of said yoke with a bevel gear on its lower end that meshes withthe gear on the horizontal shaft, a bulb gripping member with acircular. lower end mounted on the upper edge'of the upstan'dingcollaron said yoke and operativelyconnected with the upper end of saidvertical stub shaft, a collar bearing adapted to slide longitudinally onsaid shaft, a laterally projecting crank arm and sprocket on saidbearing, a chainv con? necting the-said sprocket and the sprocket onthe. end of the horizontally disposed shaft, and. a set screw on thebearing to secure the same at any adjusted position on the shaftsubstantially as described.

2. In a device of the class described, a

bulb gripping. member comprising a substantially U-shapedsupport, a pairof arouate gripping sections horizontally disposed and carried by theupright arms of said support, and a pair of semi-oval verticallydisposed gripping sections carried by said horizontally disposedsections.

3. In a device of the class described, a bulb gripping member comprisinga substantially U-shaped support, a pair of horizontally disposedarcuate gripping sections carried by the upright arms of said support,said arcuate sections being adjustably engaged with each other at theirouter ends, a pair of semi-oval vertically disposed gripping sectionscarried by the horizontal sections, and said semi-oval sections having avertical adjustment with said horizontal sec tions.

i. In a device of the class described, a bulb gripping member comprisinga substantially U-shaped support, a pair of arcuate horizontallydisposed gripping sections carried by the said support and adjustablyengaged one with the other and with the upright arms of the support bythe same means, a pair of semi-oval vertically disposed grippingsections mounted intermediate their ends between the arms of saidsupport on the horizontal gripping sections, said vertical sectionshaving T-shaped upper ends and outwardly bent lower ends, and a basesupport mounted between said supporting arms below the grippingsections.

5. In a device of the class described, a bulb gripping member comprisinga substantially U-shaped support, a pair of horizontally disposedarcuate gripping sections carried by the upright arms of said support,said sections having spaced openings at their outer overlapping endsadapted to aline with each other, means for fixedly securing the saidarcuate arms in any desired horizontally adjusted position and by thesame means securing them to the upright arms of the support, a pair ofsemi-oval vertically disposed gripping sections having spaced openingsintermediate their ends, and means for fixedly securing the saidsections at any desired vertical adjustment to the horizontal grippingsections.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

FRANK A. JOHNSON.

, lVitnesses:

ED. BLANKENBURG, JOHN ALKIR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

